Hitchens in libel threat to Kissinger

12:00AM BST 21 Jun 2001

THE British-born polemicist Christopher Hitchens is threatening to sue his latest sparring partner, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger. Hitchens's The Trial of Henry Kissinger called its subject "a notorious war criminal and lawbreaker" and called for his prosecution.

Under this provocation, Kissinger described Hitchens in a television interview last week as "a great fiction writer who accused Mother Teresa of human rights violations and denied the Holocaust ever took place".

Now Hitchens, pointing out that both he and his wife Carol are Jewish, says: "Kissinger will be hearing from my attorney, who will tell him several things he already knows. What he said is false, malicious and defamatory, and if he says it again, we will proceed against him in court.

"My wife's uncle was one of the leaders of resistance in Auschwitz. My mother's family had to leave. I can't let this stand. It's an insult to my family and my wife's family. It's a very damaging thing to have said about me."

If he presses his suit, Hitchens will find himself in uncongenial company. The last high-profile libel complaint from someone accused of Holocaust denial? Irving vs Lipstadt.